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‘Duncan,’ she said, keeping her voice as neutral as possible. ‘Is everything okay? If you’re looking for Fergus, I’m not sure where he is. He said he was taking the dogs for a walk, but that was about six hours ago.’

‘Sounds about right,’ Duncan said, chuckling. ‘Walking the dogs is basically Fergus’s reason for doing nothing.’ At the mention of the dogs, he looked at Ruby. ‘You got yourself a buddy?’

‘Apparently so.’

He let out a small laugh, with such a deep resonance, Bex could feel her entire stomach turning to butterflies at the sound. What the hell was wrong with her? Was it the thought of not going on any dates for the next two months that was causing her to find Duncan so blooming attractive? That had to be it. It couldn’t be because he was actually attractive, could it? And it definitely wasn’t because of that deep pine aroma that was emanating from him even now.

With a slight yelp, she bit the inside of her cheeks. This was not what she did. Whatever was going on with her, she needed to get a grip. But it was really damn hard. There was just something about his smile that made it impossible to think about anything else.

‘Are you okay?’ Duncan asked. Concern flashed on his face as he stepped further into the study.

‘Yes, fine,’ Bex replied, internally cursing herself yet again in his presence. ‘Just my legs have gone a little numb. You know, from sitting so long.’

‘Right,’ Duncan said. His eyes lingered on her, like he was expecting her to say more, but her throat was growing inexplicably dry.

‘Like I said, Fergus isn’t here,’ she repeated, hoping that he would take the hint and leave.

‘That’s okay. I came to see you. I brought you a little present.’

A present? Bex’s heart hitched.

‘Nothing too exciting,’ he said, stretching out his hand, palm open. In the centre was a brass key. ‘It’s to lock your bedroom door,’ he said. ‘To avoid any other… embarrassing incidents.’

Bex stood up and walked over to him.

‘Right,’ she said before tentatively taking the key from his hand, careful not to let her fingers brush his, in case it had the same effect as last time. ‘Thank you, I appreciate it. Though what are you going to do for hot water now if the lodge still isn’t working?’

He shrugged, then grinned. ‘It’s fine. I’m sure I can scrounge a shower here or there.’

Was he talking about other women? Probably. Yes, he probably had half the women in the village on speed dial, all desperate to offer him the use of his shower. Her mind was wandering, envisioning the queue of eager young ladies lining up with towels to hold out to him, when he spoke again.

‘Actually, there was something else I wanted to ask you too.’

She looked up to find the blue-green eyes staring straight into her.

‘Yes?’ Bex’s pulse ticked faster and faster. What was it about those damn eyes? Not to mention his thick Scottish accent? She wouldn’t go as far as to say it made her knees weak, but it was certainly doing something. Unless there was an altitude issue in the castle, too. She hadn’t felt it before, but then she had been sitting down for most of the day. Maybe it was standing up that was causing her to have this light-headedness. Tonight, she was going to google it, she decided, although for now, she was sidetracked by the slight shift in Duncan’s posture. Almost like he was nervous. He cleared his throat before finally carrying on.

‘I was just wondering if you’d like to go for a drink later. You know, as another apology. I feel like I owe you it. And it would give you a chance to see a wee more of the village. And maybe a better side of me, too?’

Nope, she was wrong. Her knees really had gone weak. How the hell did he make the word ‘wee’ sound gruff? Bex took a deep breath in, but tried to appear casual about it. Did she want to go for a drink with the excessively attractive Scotsman? Absolutely. But was she going to? No.

Dozens of reasons as to why that would be an absolutely terrible idea flashed through her mind. First, he had said it was a drink to see a ‘better side’ of him. Whether it had been intentional or not, she had read that comment as laden with innuendo and, given that they both worked at the castle, a terrible idea. It literally went against her only rule of dating, which was not to get involved with someone at work. At least half a dozen colleagues had asked her out during her decade at the firm and she had turned them all down. Even the ones she’d actually liked, because she was a woman who didn’t let a man interfere with her career, and it didn’t matter how professional you were, workplace dating affected how you did your job. And while she wasn’t working with Duncan in the same way as her colleagues in London, it was still too close to be comfortable. Then there was the fact that Duncan was going through a massive heartbreak. Rebound guys were always a disaster. And then, to add to that, his stepsister, who Bex already liked even after one short meeting, had warned her quite firmly against dating him. The last thing she wanted to do was ostracise the only person she had made a connection with in the village. No, attractiveness aside, she would not be going for a drink with Duncan.

‘Actually,’ she said, grateful to have an excuse that wasn’t just a direct refusal, ‘I’ve already made plans tonight. I’m having drinks with your stepsister.’

‘Lorna?’ His eyebrows rose, and a small smile lifted his lips. Clearly, from his reaction to her name, he was as fond of his sister as she was of him. ‘Well, I’m sure you’ll have a lot of fun. Just do me a favour, will you?’ he said, that damn accent causing yet more butterflies to swarm inside her.

‘What’s that?’ Bex asked.

‘Don’t believe anything she says about me.’ With that, he flashed her one perfect grin and disappeared out of the study.

Bex let out a long sigh. Why did she get the feeling that working here was going to be a whole lot harder than she’d anticipated? And it had nothing to do with the state of the study.

15

Bex continued working for several hours after Duncan left, and it was only when her phone buzzed, showing a message from Lorna saying they were all at the White Hart, that she realised how late it was. Hurriedly, she went upstairs, had a quick shower and changed her clothes.

She reached the bottom of the staircase, ready to head out the door, when a voice boomed out from the room Bex had spotted the whisky and angled armchair in earlier that day.